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Tallent finally receives 2012 Olympic gold, four years late

(Photo: Mike Groll)

17/06/2016

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Nearly four years late and half a world away from London, Australian race walker Jared Tallent finally received his chance to move up another rung on the Olympic medal podium. This time it was for a gold medal, which was stripped from Sergei Kirdyapkin of Russia.

The lengthy delay was doping-related: Kirdyapkin, who was presented with the gold in the 50-kilometer walk at the 2012 Olympics, later received a three-year ban by the Russian anti-doping agency. Contentiously, that sanction didn't cover his Olympic result.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the Russian decision in March, clearing the way for the 31-year-old Tallent, awarded silver in London, to be elevated to Olympic champion.

On Friday, Tallent was presented with the gold medal by International Olympic Committee vice-president John Coates in a ceremony held in drizzly rain in front of the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne.

Coates, also president of the Australian Olympic Committee, didn't miss as chance to slam the Russian system.

"Presenting an Olympic medal is always an honor, but more so on this occasion to be part of rectifying, in some way, the massive injustice perpetrated on Jared by a doping cheat and aided by a Russian Anti-Doping Agency and Russian Athletics Federation that were rotten to the core," Coates said at the beginning of his remarks at the ceremony.

Ironically, or perhaps not, track and field's international governing body was to determine later Friday whether to restore the Russian track team's eligibility for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August. The IAAF suspended Russia from global competition in November after a World Anti-Doping Agency report revealed state-sponsored doping.

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"It's a victory for clean sport and justice has been served," Tallent said of his upgraded medal.

While Tallent didn't comment initially on Friday about the potential IAAF ban of Russian track athletes — he has a media conference scheduled for Saturday morning to discuss whatever decision the IAAF makes — there was no doubt about his thoughts in late March after the CAS ruled against Russia and Kirdyapkin.

"It's been a mission of mine for a number of years now to get the gold medal from London. I knew as soon as I crossed that line in London that I was beaten by a cheat," Tallent said at the time. "I'm hopeful that Russia is still banned for the Olympics. I am strongly against Russia competing at the Olympics."

Coates on Friday said he didn't think the IAAF would lift the ban before the Olympics, saying "I expect the IAAF will maintain the sanctions against Russia."

Athletic Australia chief Phil Jones agreed, saying earlier "we would be astonished, given the extent of the systemic doping regime uncovered, if Russia has ... taken all the necessary steps to ensure that they are WADA-code compliant."

The gold medal completes a set for Tallent — he won silver in the 20-kilometer and bronze in the 50 at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. He'll have another chance to add to his total in Rio as a member of the Australian team, along with his younger sister Rachel, who he coaches.

"I am now the Olympic champion when I stand on the start line at Rio," Tallent said Friday. "But 1,405 days ago I should have received the medal."

Friday's ceremony — complete with the playing of Australia's national anthem and a flag-raising — will never replace what could have been.

"It's definitely a bit hollow that you don't get to stand on the podium at the Olympic Games in front of all the people and spectators who see you compete, you don't get to see the Australian flag go up to the highest point," Tallent said after the CAS decision was published in March. "That's all been taken away, what comes with being an Olympic champion, that I'll never get back."